1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to the field of spinning machines. More particularly, the present invention relates to the fine cleaning of textile fibers and to a method and a device for performing the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Textile fibers, particularly cotton fibers, are subjected to coarse cleaning after the fiber bales have been opened, during which the coarse contaminants are removed. The fibers are then subjected to a fine cleaning. With the fine cleaning, all the particles of dirt remaining in the fibers after the coarse cleaning should be removed as much as possible. After the fine cleaning, the fibers are then transported to the next preparation step of the spinning process, for example, to a carding machine.
In the fine cleaning machine, the fibers, in the form of a fiber bat, are conveyed over a toothed, central opening roller through various cleaning steps. During the rotation of the opening roller, the bat is continuously subjected to centrifugal force and, thereby, the contamination particles are concentrated in the outer layers of the bat. In one of the cleaning steps, the centrifuged bat is guided under separating blades in such a way that the uppermost layer with the concentration of particles is separated from the remainder of the bat.
Typically, a guide element is provided which projects into the bat in front of a separating blade, that is, against the transport direction of the fibers. On this guide element the bat is deflected inwardly, i.e., against the centrifugal force, whereby the concentration of the contamination particles is increased. The succession of separating blades and guide elements are repeated at least twice within the same cleaning step.
So that a cleaning step of this type, with separating blades and guide elements, can operate optimally for every fiber origin and for every blend of fiber origin, it must be appropriately adjustable so that all the contamination particles and, as much as possible, only the contamination particles are separated from the fibers.
The fine cleaning machines at the present stage of technology are manually adjustable in such a way, that through adjusting screws or other means, the position of the separating blades and guide elements are adjustable and such that guide elements of different sizes can be fitted. Since every adjustment and setting requires manual intervention with the machine, such adjustments and settings tend to be inconvenient and costly. Further, it is only possible to reset the positions of the separating blades and guide elements for different fiber origins or blends of origins during a machine stoppage.